Free Shadowgrounds With Tank Universal

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Meridian 4 send word that folks who pre-order Tank Universal on Steam will receive Shadowgrounds free. Tank Universal is a splendid-looking Tron-like tank battle game, which Kieron had a good old blather about just here. Just as significantly for your opnion-forming technique, there is a demo here.

The game is out on 21st August, so you’d better hurry if you’re interested.

i’m really not sure how i feel about tu. Shadowgrounds i already own. Its lovely, but after playing the demo and the skirmish for a while i felt oddly deflated. I had little sense of progress. I think that the mech warrior games share a philosophy with this game, but at their root was epic customisation. Get a puma an lbx 20 and an erppc sacrificing armor and you can out maneuver anything that isn’t so light you can kill it in one hit. Team play could prove interesting too (too many cheaters online though). Eh, £6? I’ll think about it.

I quite liked the Tank Unlimited demo, though. Feels like a mix of Tron 2.0 and Battlezone (a little of the original, a little of the strategy/shooter hybrid), which is not bad at all. And at £5, it’s hard to say no. For people who don’t own Shadowgrounds, it’s worth it just for the *free* game.

Another one here that already owns Shadowgrounds (and Survivor) on Steam. Shadowground was a pretty decent top-down shooter. Survivor was even better, it seemed as if they really nailed the game design in the sequel.

Quick query then, if I make this purchase, will I be allowed to gift my “spare” copy of Shadowgrounds as I was for HL2 and Ep1 when the Orange Box was released?

I believe that’s a no, unfortunately. I bought TF2 myself at launch, and then received the Orange Box later on as a gift, and was unable to gift that TF2 install as well. I think those two gifts were a one-time thing.

I’m in the opposite situation: I own TU but don’t have Shadowgrounds! However, I love TU. The full game is a little different to the demo, in that the demo implies it’s a full-on Battlezone-esque FPS-style tank shootery thing (someone else can do the comparison bit, I’m useless at it). However, the full game starts more like Tron 2.0 in first person mode, and becomes a game of cat and mouse with you infiltrating the giant glowy computer system. Only in the later missions does it really develop into the full-blown battles that you see in the demo.

It is, however, most excellent and I still play a couple of months on from purchasing it – a bit rare for a game these days.

Since there’s been a few comments about the indie tank game, Tank Universal, just thought I’d bring you up to speed (as the game’s developer).

TU’s about to be released on Steam (Aug21) at the value price of $9.99. You can pre-order now (and receive Shadowgrounds as a free game with your order, but you’ll have to hurry).

There’s also a shiny, new demo due out shortly as well – so if you’ve downloaded a demo off the net, please note that it’s not ‘representative of final gameplay’ – as they say. The new demo will be available from Steam, but I’ll also reinstate the website download link shortly.

Thanks for the comments – always a buzz hearing that people have enjoyed the game!